Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Warner Home Video has been packaging classic Peanuts specials in groups of 2 episodes per DVD. We've previously reviewed It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown & Snoopy's Reunion, which were packaged under the latter heading.

This time, we'll kill two birds with one stone, as we take a look at two more Peanuts specials, this time from the 70's.

1975's You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown gives our lovable loser a surprising platform for success. Peppermint Patty talks Charlie into entering a motorcross race. Charlie & Linus scrape up enough change to buy a rickety bike that makes Archie Andrews' infamous jalopy look like a Model T by comparison. Snoopy gets in on the fun in his persona as the Masked Marvel, this after getting embarassed by Woodstock in tennis, of all things. Bear in mind that Snoopy's tantrum then recalled the Romanian tennis star, Ille Nastase, since John McEnroe wasn't quite so famous by then.

Now, let's move ahead four years to You're the Greatest, Charlie Brown, in which Charlie, after being talked into it again by Peppermint Patty, enters a decathalon in the Junior Olympics, representing his school, along with Marcie (who made a fool of herself pretending to be a reporter in Good Sport). Snoopy, as the Masked Marvel, enters as well, and all three have to deal with a stuffy, taller, older kid who is the defending champion. Suffice it to say, Charlie reverts to form at the worst possible time.